Spike Vodka captures essence of prickly pear cactus

Updated 10:41 am, Sunday, December 2, 2012

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, San Antonio Express-News

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Master distiller Rachel Price (left) and Spike Vodka founder and president Nick Spink (right) chop prickly pear cactus Tuesday November 20, 2012. Spink and Price use the cactus to make Spike brand Vodka in San Antonio. Spink not only recommends his vodka for drinks like martinis and Bloody Marys but says it is also good for margaritas.

Spike Vodka is made here in San Antonio by company founder Nick Spink and master distiller Rachel Price. Price and Spink use prickly pear cactus to make Spike Vodka.

Spike Vodka is made here in San Antonio by company founder Nick Spink and master distiller Rachel Price. Price and Spink use prickly pear cactus to make Spike Vodka.

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, San Antonio Express-News

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Spike Vodka is made here in San Antonio by company founder Nick Spink and master distiller Rachel Price. Price and Spink use prickly pear cactus to make Spike Vodka.

Spike Vodka is made here in San Antonio by company founder Nick Spink and master distiller Rachel Price. Price and Spink use prickly pear cactus to make Spike Vodka.

Photo: JOHN DAVENPORT, San Antonio Express-News

Spike Vodka captures essence of prickly pear cactus

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A swirl of prickly pear syrup in a frozen margarita adds a pop of color and a hint of sweetness.

But a bottle of clear liquid extracted from the same prickly pear cactus and distilled on the northwest side of town bears no resemblance to that pink syrup in frozen concoctions.

The label on this bottle reads, “vodka.” Come again?

Yes, Spike Vodka is made from cactus.

“I am a vodka drinker,” Spike founder Nick Spink says. “After researching the other vodkas that are on the market, there are very few that do everything from beginning to end.

“I really wanted (it) to be an artisan vodka. Everything handmade” throughout the process.

“How more Texan can you be than cactus?” he asked himself.

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“We go out to the ranches to select the best nopales, the best paddles,” says master distiller Rachel Price, adding that the best gift Spink ever gave her was a machete.

They harvest the cactus paddles on ranches in the San Antonio area and take them to the distillery, where they are cleaned and production begins. Entire paddles, complete with skin and thorns, are fermented in 55-gallon drums for roughly six weeks. During that time, the sediment settles to the bottom, leaving the liquid on top.

That fermented liquid is drained when it's at about 14 percent alcohol. Spink and Price run it through the still only once to retain the cactus characteristics and flavors. After distillation, the juice is about 90 percent alcohol. It's diluted to 40 percent, filtered and sampled before it's bottled.

The operation is small, with Spink and Price hand-bottling and labeling each bottle — the label design is from a piece of Spink's' artwork. They will have produced about 500 cases by year's end; next year, the goal is 3,000 cases. Spike is available here, in Austin, and soon, Dallas and Houston.

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It's smooth and sweeter than one might expect. While heavy cactus aromas come through on the nose (some say it's a ringer for blanco tequila), it has notes of pepper, vanilla and almonds on the palate. Price describes its characters as earthy, raw and organic. Unique indeed, especially for a neutral spirit.

Similar to most vodkas, Spike Vodka is ideal for mixing in cocktails, but it also disappears quickly when poured for sipping. It could be substituted for vodka in most recipes, but its versatility shows when it's mixed in a margarita, and it's fantastic as the base spirit in limoncello made with limes instead of lemons.

Spink spent more than four years perfecting the recipe and fermentation process before launching Spike earlier this year. There was a lot of trial and error, not to mention a little confusion when he would explain what he was doing.

“There was a lot of, ‘It's made out of what?'” Spink says.

Spike Vodka costs approximately $22 for a 750-milliliter bottle and can be found at several smaller liquor stores, including Doc's Liquor, LotSA Liquors, Mike's Liquors and Pig Liquors, as well as both Spec's Liquors locations and other stores. It's also on the shelf at Blue Box, Kona Grill at La Cantera and Sustenio at Éilan.

jmcinnis@express-news.net

Correction: The founder of Spike Vodka is Nick Spink. His name is misspelled in a story on today's page H5 and on mySA.com.